Meeting him in person, you are struck by a sense of contrast. He has a farmer’s handshake, a broad, strong grip. But he also has an easy humour, a lot of what he says being punctuated with quiet smiles. He walks lightly, does Melbourne’s hard man.

Asked what sort of a kid Jones was, his father Brad says determined. He ran triathlons and swam under-age for the state but, according to his father, footy was always his passion. Playing footy as a kid, says Nathan Jones, is “footy in its purest form - kicking, running, playing with your mates, winning”. “Has it changed?” I asked. “I’ve had to get used to losing,” he said, a shadow touching his features. He has played in two finals for Melbourne, both in his first year, 2006, when he was 18. Remembering how he thought, “This is pretty easy,” he smiled.

We met at the MCG on Wednesday. I suggested the location because over the past five years I’ve watched him play there for Melbourne and no club has a deeper connection to that grand arena than Melbourne. You know at a glance that Nathan Jones is a brave footballer. He cuts into packs with his body like it’s an axe. He’s got big, square shoulders; his chest is as taut as a sail. A Melbourne supporter said to me recently, “For so long, he’s been our lone warrior.” Since 2006, he has played 161 of a possible 166 games. Right now, no-one is more red and blue than Nathan Jones.

We walked to the two Aboriginal scarred trees on the eastern side of the stadium. He is “shattered” about Liam Jurrah. “He had so much talent – he could run and jump and he was such a pure kick of the ball. And he was a really good person.” We walked some more and he added, “His world is a world apart from AFL football. It takes a lot to understand that.”

Jones was one of a group of Melbourne players and staff who flew to the Tiwi Islands to attend the funeral of the father of former Melbourne player Aussie Wonaeamirri. The Melbourne Football Club people were invited to witness the funeral ceremony at its most intimate, to see the part of the culture that tourists don’t get shown. “It was one of the best privileges you could ever get or have.”

One of Aussie’s relatives also offered to take eight of them fishing in two boats. The first boat left with four Melbourne players and was out fishing for five hours. They got back to find the other boat had never arrived and their teammates waiting. That memory got another smile from him. His manner is polite, clear, direct.

We visited the statue of Melbourne legend Ron Barassi near Gate 4. “It blows my mind to think how good Melbourne must have been in the 1950s and ‘60s,” he said. “I would love to know that feeling.” The figure from Melbourne history he knows best is 1970s star Robbie Flower. He wears Flower’s number and, although the playing styles of the two could hardly be more different, Jones’ teammate Colin Garland sees a similarity - both embodied the pride of the club during periods of hardship. Jones has won Melbourne’s past two best and fairests and last Sunday, in so far as any one player was responsible for Melbourne’s win over Carlton, he was.

I asked him the best Melbourne player of his time. “James McDonald is the best leader I’ve seen. He knew how to balance being liked and being respected. He got people where he wanted them to go.”

A lot has happened at Melbourne in Jones’ time, including the deaths of a series of major figures – Sean Wight, Jim Stynes, Dean Bailey. When I asked him about Stynes, he said, “Yes. Jimmy was special.'' Nathan Jones is an ambitious footballer. To him, Stynes brought hope.

“Jimmy was about relationship. He understood history was about relationship. He saw through people’s fronts.”

Colin Garland says of Nathan Jones, “He looks like a tough boy from Frankston, but he’s quite spiritual in his thinking.”

When Paul Roos came to the damaged club last year, he said he was going to start rebuilding at the foundation and that foundation, says Jones, “is relationship”. The way he puts it, the idea is not up for further discussion. It’s a fact. It is perhaps worth remembering that Roos’ success at Sydney was achieved with the assistance of a devout believer in the midfielder, Brett Kirk. Like Nathan Jones, Kirk was also co-captain. And it’s true that the Dees are more cohesive this year. In that respect, you can see traces of Sydney about them.

I asked him if he enjoys playing at the MCG. He does. “I get the same feeling every time I run out there.” This time his smile came with a shrug. “It’d be better if the crowds were bigger.”

After looking at the slope where the first game was played between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar in 1858, we went to the statue of Tom Wills. That’s when he admitted he was a bit taken aback by everything he was seeing. He’d just realised that, after eight years of playing AFL, he saw the MCG as a stadium with an underground car park. He mused, “I haven’t walked around the MCG for years.”

The last time he did was when he played for the Dandenong Stingrays in the curtain-raiser to the 2005 AFL grand final between West Coast and Sydney. He remembers it as the grand final “when Leo Barry took the mark”. Each year, he says he’s going to the grand final but, in the end, he never does. He doesn’t want to watch a grand final; he wants to play in one.

He feels each loss. “The first few days, it’s almost like depression. You grieve, then by Thursday you twist your mentality around.” Because every week he has to believe Melbourne can win. He can’t play the way he does if he doesn’t believe that. So he keeps getting up and that’s why Demons fans love him. He’s Chunk, as much of a superhero as they currently possess, and it’s like he knows the weight he’s carrying but he also knows he might be a better player if he carried a bit more.

I haven’t met his co-captain Jack Grimes, although I have heard him speak and was impressed. As I see the pair, Grimes is like the infantry officer standing above the trenches, brave as they come. Jones is the infantry division, reinforced now by Adelaide’s Bernie Vince and GWS’ Dom Tyson. Jones and Grimes talk about Melbourne’s history, how they have to start a new chapter.

Melbourne’s performance against Carlton last weekend came like a rain that ends a long drought and leaves the earth singing. Jones felt the joy of the Melbourne fans. “Imagine the excitement of the people who love the place if we won a grand final. That’s what keeps me here.”